I seek your vote for re-election to the Nashoba Regional School School Committee in the Tuesday, May 15 Stow Town Election.

I have lived in Stow for more than 13 years, and have been active in town government since 2011, as either an associate or elected member of the Planning Board. I served on the NRHS Space Study Task Force from 2014 through 2016.

I bring more than 35 years of experience in accounting, finance, budgeting, operations and management, from working in a variety of nonprofit and for-profit organizations, as well as serving as a board member and president of several non-profit community organizations and foundations.

I desire to continue to advocate, from a governance perspective, for the district, to offer the best possible education for all of our youth, especially those most in need, while mindful of the necessity to do so with far-sighted effectiveness, financial integrity and managerial efficiency.

My financial experience is important because the budget of the Nashoba School District, in total about $57 million, is six times the size of the $9.3 million non-educational budget of Stow. We can, and must have excellent schools, while also attending to the limited resources of the three member towns, Stow, Bolton, and Lancaster, to provide for the schools.

During my three years on the School Committee, it has undertaken, with the aid of outside auditors and independent school financial officials, a comprehensive review of the district finances, its budgetary processes and operations. I desire to implement the results of those reviews in longer-term policies for future school committees to be informed by.

During my term on the School Committee, the committee has achieved the following:

-- It hired an outstanding new superintendent.

-- The Nashoba Finance SubCommittee, for the first time in memory, was fully active in preliminary budget preparation and review, before the presentation of the full budget to the entire School Committee.

-- The committee has started to implement a three-year action plan in response to the reviews of financial operations, to improve its administration, and continue to comply with relevant laws and regulations.

-- The School Committee and district has improved its relations with member town leadership, selectmen, and town finance committees.

-- It established an OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) Retiree Health Insurance Trust to deal with an unfunded $40 million retirement liability.

-- It established a new line item in the annual budget, for OPEB Retiree Health Insurance. In fiscal 2019, there is a very modest $75,000 amount to partially pay or offset the annual $1 million liability.

-- The committee submitted a Statement of Interest with Massachusetts School Building Authority, to start a multi-year review and building feasibility process to decide how to meet the numerous and aging inadequacies of the Nashoba Regional High School.

I invite you to allow me to to continue to serve the town of Stow in the coming election by voting for me.